


Work Through This

by InsecurelyPerfect



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Alcohol warning, F/M, Iron Dad, OH YEAH I TOTALLY FORGOT TO MENTION, Tony lives, a little after far from home, bully warning, definitely post endgame, heavy swearing warning, iron dad not iron dead, it took three days to write, it's really sutble, its never explicitly stated but peter and mj are together, ned doesnt know what to do, peter has serious guilt issues, peter is sad, peter is trans, theres a cinema sins reference thank u, this came to me in a dream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 09:30:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19867354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsecurelyPerfect/pseuds/InsecurelyPerfect
Summary: Peter is feeling extremely guilty and the only thing he can think to do is to get in trouble.  MJ and Ned want to help them, but don't know what to do.  Tony is trying to be the best father figure to Peter that he can be.





	Work Through This

Peter had always been a good kid. Uncle Ben knew it, Aunt May knew it, and Tony Stark certainly knew it. Peter had never been one to get in much trouble before in his life, so it wasn't like he even knew how to. However, he was getting pretty annoyed with constantly being praised for being good. He just wanted to get in trouble. He craved it. He needed to be punished for all of his mistakes, and who better to punish him than Tony?

For the past few days, he was doing anything he could think of to get in trouble with Tony. It was hard and he couldn't think of a lot of things to do, but the ones that he could think of were pretty bad. He just hoped that it would be enough to piss Tony off. He knew that when Morgan said shit, it didn't spark rage in him, he just told her not to say it anymore, but Peter needed something a lot more than that.

Peter was sick and tired of being the good kid. He needed action in his life, to stop being pushed around by that fucking Flash, and to finally feel like his crimes are being justified. He wasn't going to do anything drastic like murder, but he also wasn't going to keep being the sweet geek with a huge secret.

He looked over his list once more before setting everything into action. Holding a huge party at Stark Industries, underage drinking to the point of needing to get his stomach pumped, not coming home for three days and dodging all of Tony's calls in the meantime, not cleaning up after himself. The more he looked over it, the more he hated the things he came up with. A lot of his ideas seemed childish. He was going to think of some new ideas, but he was going to keep the staying out for extended periods and the party. Maybe start getting into fights at school, but that would just involve the school and he would get into more trouble than he was looking for, and that was more trouble than it was worth. He considered just punching Flash at his house or something.

"What's that?" Ned asked pointedly looking at the list Peter was holding.

He scrambled to hide it away from his friend's prying eyes. "Uh, nothing. This isn't anything. It's just, uh, you know..." Peter struggled to think of anything that Ned would buy. "Oh, you know... the -- it's homework."

Ned's face scrunched up. "What class? That looks like a weird pros and cons list. What class requires a pro and con list?" He snatched the list from Peter's hands, nearly ripping it.

"One you don't take," Peter said quickly, ripping his list back from his friend.

Ned crossed his arms. "How do you know what classes I do or don't take?"

"Ned, seriously? You're my best friend. Of course, I know what classes you're in, just like you know what classes I'm in."

"Well, apparently I don't know what class you're in if you're coming up with lists for homework that start with 'How to anger Tony Stark.'" Shit, so Ned had seen that. Peter could kiss all chances of his plan working goodbye. Once Ned got involved with something related to the Tony Stark part of his life, things got a little messy. He had gotten better at dealing with getting starstruck, especially when it came to keeping Peter safe, but he was surprisingly better with the Avenger stuff than the normal people part of Peter's life.

He thought about it for a moment. He supposed that maybe Ned would actually help him to pull off the party, but if Tony knew that Ned was involved, Peter would get in less trouble, so he would just have to take all the blame for himself.

That was something he could do. Peter had no problem making sure that none of his friends got in trouble and stayed safe no matter what. He was already pretty used to that anyways.

Ned was just about to get up and leave Peter to his weirdness when Peter stopped him. "Hey, Ned, wait. Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, dude, of course. What's up?"

"So, you're right. This isn't homework -- this is actually a list of things I could potentially get in trouble for with Mr. Stark. Do you think that you'd maybe be able to help me out? I'm thinking about throwing a huge party at the tower so that he'll, like, I don't know, ground me or something?"

Ned's eyebrows knit together. "Wait for a second, you're intentionally trying to get in trouble with Tony Stark?"

"Uh, yeah. Didn't I explain that?" Peter was looking over his list as if it were a script he was reading form, trying to make sure he didn't forget to say anything.

"Um, no. Not really. Why do you want him to get mad at you again?"

"Because he and Aunt May treat me like some little goody-two-shoes who can do no wrong. It's getting embarrassing because Mr. Stark posts it all over his Instagram and Flash follows him, which means that Flash only makes fun of me even more. Plus, I keep fucking up and I really need to be punished for all the wrong I've done." Peter was now tearing the corners off of his list in an attempt to not cry.

"So you feel guilty about some stuff and also just want Flash to stop bullying you?" Ned tried to work out his best friend's reasoning. It was a little bit bizarre, even for Peter, who, you know, was freakin' Spider-Man.

Peter nodded, wiping his eye on the back of his hand. "Pretty much, yeah."

"And you're asking me to help you create a killer party so Tony will get mad at you?"

"Dude, how many ties are we going to have to through this? Yes, I feel guilty and want to stop being bullied, so I'm trying to get in trouble. Are you in or not?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm in, but we're going to need the help of MJ and Flash." Peter groaned at the mention of Flash. "I know and quite frankly agree, but he's popular. He can help you out. Not to mention he's a total doof and will jump on any chance he can to get in the Avengers' faces. He's bound to destroy something."

Peter clapped loudly and pointed at Ned, his eyes wide and wild. "YOU'RE RIGHT!" 

The class stopped talking and stared at him confused. He chuckled awkwardly and waved the attention off of Ned and himself. Peter was able to direct everyone's attention off of themselves, but not before everyone in the room (including their teacher) gave them both a nasty look. Peter's cheeks burned as he turned back to Ned.

"So, how do we go about getting the word out?"

Ned smirked, crossing his arms. "Easy. We ask MJ to post about it and because Brad and Flash both follow her and happen to be popular enough to have half the school's numbers. I'm pretty sure that all together they have the entire school in phone numbers. Since everyone is looking for a distraction from the Blip and how much it displaced them, it'll be easy for us to lure a bunch of teenagers to your house with alcohol. And of course everyone is now looking up to the Avengers, so it'll be even easier."

Peter smiled, lucky that to have Ned in his corner.

-

They tracked MJ down at lunch. It wasn't difficult because she sat with them, but as soon as she sat down at their table, she was immediately bombarded by these two geeks she called friends asking rather loudly if she would spread word about a party Peter was having at his house with alcohol ("Make sure you definitely include that there's alcohol," Ned said while Peter nodded, wide-eyed and pointing at Ned in agreement). She had barely had the chance to set down her backpack before they had both jumped down her throat and wouldn't stop looking at her like lost puppies until she agreed.

MJ let out a loud sigh and allowed her eyes to roll into the back of her head. "Fine," she said, finally setting down her bag. Both of the boy's eyes lit up as she pulled out her phone and opened the Instagram app. "When is it?"

Ned and Peter both looked at each other. "TONIGHT!" they screamed in unison. The party was sure to be shut down quickly regardless of if the other Avengers would be at the house or not because FRIDAY would just alert Tony anyways. He suspected he would have about thirty or forty minutes before Tony got the notification, but that would be plenty of time for Flash to get there and destroy something big.

MJ rolled her eyes again but did as the boys instructed. "You know that Flash and Brad will have this trending all over the school in about five minutes, right? You sure that you want me to post this?"

"Oh, that's what I'm counting on," Peter muttered under his breath.

MJ looked at him weirdly. "What was that?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing. It was nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Um, okay." She continued typing on her phone. "Alright," she said, shutting off her phone. "It's done." Her eyes raked over Peter. "I don't think you know what you've done."

"I know exactly what I've done," Peter said with a slight snark to his voice. He high fived Ned and then crossed his arms.

MJ took a bite of whatever sandwich she packed for herself to eat for lunch that day. "You guys look like you belong on the cover of a failed hip hop CD by some math teachers desperate for people to like them."

Peter laughed while Ned fake gasped. "Why, thank you, MJ." Peter stood up and took an overly dramatic bow. He sat back down and shoved a french fry in his mouth. "So, what time can I expect you to come over tonight?"

She shook her head. "Oh, I'm not coming over." She could see the smile on Peter's face vanish and his posture visibly deflated. She felt a little bad.

"Excuse me?" Ned slammed his fists on the table, startling both Peter and MJ. "What do you mean you're not coming over?"

MJ shrugged. "I mean, I'd go, but then I would have to deal with that annoying creep, Brad, and I'd rather not worry about running into him. I know he still likes me." She took another bite of her sandwich. "But other than that, I would totally go."

Peter nodded solemnly once and was quiet the rest of lunch. He pushed away his chicken sandwich and just kept dipping his fries into the ketchup. His thoughts were hard and angry and sarcastic for the rest of the day. Next to him, Ned was rattling off ways that he could make it so that Brad never comes in contact with MJ so that way she could still come. Peter was thankful, but he wasn't really holding out hope that she would come.

-

Probably the best part of living with Tony was the fact that Tony had a ton of alcohol in random places around the house. Random places that didn't mean that Peter had to use FRIDAY to access or go out and buy any, which he was thankful for. He was sure that him sneaking into the kitchen pantry and coming out with all kinds of bottles of whiskey and vodka would have been a red flag that would have caused FRIDAY to turn on and yell at Peter, but when she didn't say anything, he figured he would be in the clear, at least, until the party started.

To be completely real, he wouldn't have minded if he got in trouble for stealing Tony's alcohol. But he just figured that he would have gotten in more trouble if he threw the party without Tony's permission rather than stealing his alcohol.

The first person to arrive, as expected, was Ned. He showed up about three hours before everyone else because he came home with Peter to help set up and to be unhelpful and play video games and eat a bunch of snacks, really whatever he figured would fit his mood. Peter didn't really mind setting everything up alone.

The second person to arrive, not expected, was MJ. Peter had no idea how Ned had been able to convince her, or if he even was able to convince or if she just decided to come on her own or why she was there. So many thoughts ran through his head in the thirty seconds of silence while he was just standing in the front door, staring at her, barely keeping a tight enough grip on the vodka to keep it from smashing on the floor. "Y-you came!"

MJ's face burned all the way from the apples of her cheeks all the way to the tips of her ears. "Uh, yeah," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I brought chips," she said loudly, pushing the bag of mostly air into Peter's chest, causing him to (once again) nearly break the bottle of very expensive vodka that he was holding.

Peter still stood there in shock, his grip much looser on the vodka than anyone would like and holding the plastic bag to his chest, not saying a word. That was until MJ spoke up. "So, can I come in?" She gestured behind where Peter was, trying to step into the house, hoping Peter would have the common sense to move. Thankfully, he did so that MJ could get into the house.

"Yeah, I'm so sorry about that, uh, Ned is in my room playing video games if you want to go up there until the party starts?"

"You have a room here?" MJ asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Um, yeah. I was spending a lot of time here when we were doing a lot of Avengers business and Tony couldn't be bothered to track me down to my place every time he needed me, so he just built me a room here so that when he needed me I would just be there. Aunt May lets me stay over here when I want to now, though," Peter explained quickly.

MJ nodded. "Do I have to go in your room or can I help you set up or anything?"

The question took Peter so off guard that he bumped into a desk with a bunch of books on it, yet again nearly dropping the bottle in his hands. He decided to just set it down finally so he didn't end up actually smashing it. How lame would it be if everyone showed up and he was just sponging up what they were supposed to be drinking? He shuddered just trying to get the full thought through his skull.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think I should be okay?"

"Are you sure? Because you don't sound sure. Also, I've been here for all of seven minutes and you've nearly dropped that bottle four times and you bumped into that desk, so I think you should let me help you."

"Oh, no, really it's--" Peter felt bad asking MJ to help him since this wasn't her party and all, but he didn't get the chance to turn her down because she cut him off.

"No, Peter, I insist. I'm helping whether you like it or not." She started by picking up the bottle of vodka and brought it to her nose for a whiff. Her nose crinkled in disgust at the scent. "Ew, you're not actually going to _drink_ this stuff are you? 'Cause this shit is _rank,_ my dude."

Peter's eyebrows met in the center of his forehead. "No, of course not, but it's really expensive, so that could be why it smells awful. A lot of alcohols that cost tons of money smell and taste worse than they're worth."

MJ nodded slowly.

"Not that I've ever _had_ any. I mean, that would be totally irresponsible."

Peter could tell that MJ didn't believe him. He didn't know why he was trying so hard. Even though he was trying to get into all the trouble that he could, he didn't want MJ thinking that he was a trouble maker or anything.

"Riiight," she said disapprovingly. She sniffed the bottle one more time before pulling it away quicker than the first time. Holding it out at a safe, arm's length distance, she asked, "are you sure it's okay you use this if it's expensive? Especially since it's going to be used to serve a bunch of underage high schoolers? Won't you get into a lot of trouble with Stark and May?"

Peter chuckled. "Oh, I'm counting on it."

MJ shot him a look of confusion, but he didn't answer. She didn't ask again.

-

The first person to arrive since the party had officially started was the ever so popular Flash Thompson, shocking not only Peter but MJ and Ned as well. When Peter opened the door for him, Flash didn't even wait until Peter could get a word out before shoving him aside and walking in. He popped his jacket and in the douchiest way, Peter had ever seen before he stalked off to find some refreshments. "Lame house, Penis Parker," Flash called from the other room while Peter struggled to get up from the floor that Flash had knocked him onto.

He just ignored Flash. Peter knew the house wasn't lame because if Flash really thought it was, then he wouldn't be at the Stark Tower. Flash was just putting on a front. If he showed him that he was really Spider-Man... oh boy would that kid stop bullying him. He had to keep his identity a secret, though. It was for the greater good, he reminded himself as he watched Flash stomp a chip into the white carpet.

Shortly after Flash had arrived and continued to bully Peter at his own home, other people started showing up. People that Peter didn't know, and lots of them, too. Some of them even looked like they could be older than high school age. If that were true, it would a) get him into even bigger trouble and b) it would make his street cred even higher since he had proven he was cool enough to have a party at the Stark Tower Complex that captured the attention of college students, Flash Thompson, Brad, and MJ.

It hadn't taken long for the party to kick-off, much like Peter had suspected. He locked all the doors to the upstairs and any tech rooms so nothing of Bruce's or Tony's hard work was actually destroyed (and so no one could have sex in anyone's beds because that shit's just _gross_ ). He looked around the living room from the corner where he stood, his hands on his hips. He smiled. Ned, MJ, and he did a pretty damn good job of setting the whole thing up. The word had gotten around nicely, Brad hadn't bothered MJ yet, and Peter locked all the doors except bathroom doors in a way that no one could either break or get into if they weren't Peter.

At the beginning of the year, it had been Brad who had hosted the best party, but this one was shaping up to be even better than Brad's. Peter smirked internally when he heard something behind him. It was F.R.I.D.A.Y. He voice was loud and surprised Peter, but he was more surprised that it had taken even this long for her to turn on.

"Pete, you know I'm going to have to notify Mr. Stark of your shenanigans, right?"

Peter didn't move. "Yeah, I know."

"He's not going to be happy." Despite F.R.I.D.A.Y. being a machine that Tony made, she sounded weirdly concerned.

Peter still didn't budge. "Yeah, I know."

He couldn't believe he had pulled this off. Tony was going to be raging and he would get grounded for months and it was going to suck, but at least he would feel better... he hoped.

Peter found an empty seat at the kitchen table near the plate of cookies he pulled out and took one as he pulled out his phone.

"You know, typically people don't sit out on the parties they throw."

MJ's voice startled Peter and he lost the current level of the game he had been intensely playing.

"Damn it," he cursed. "You made me lose." He pouted at her and she stuffed another cookie in his mouth before taking a seat across from him.

"What's going on with you? You've been weird all day and Ned is acting like your weird little sidekick helping you be all weird and shit, you beg me to advertise this party, you haven't had anything to drink but Capri Sun and water, and now you're just sitting in the kitchen playing... what is that, Minecraft on your phone? Are you even having fun? What's this about?"

Peter sighed, shoving the slim phone back into his pocket. "It's nothing. I'm just trying to get caught. I figured it would be weird if I disappeared into my room because everyone knows Ned is in my room playing video games and I just don't want anyone to get the wrong idea, so I'm out here, where everyone can see me being innocent and all that. Plus, dancing in my binder is a big no-no and if Mr. Stark ever found out I was doing physical activity in my binder, he would kill me and the goal is to be in trouble, not dead."

"But-but why do you want to get caught?"

Peter threw his arms behind his head and crossed his feet at the ankle in front of himself. He was trying to pass off the fact that he's relaxed and comfortable when inside his body, his heart felt like it was going to thump its way out of his chest. "Because."

MJ shoved him hard. "Because is not an answer, dumbass."

Peter gave her a big, dopey smile. "Yes, it is."

Just then, the front door slammed open, revealing one Mr. Tony Stark, Iron Man himself, red in the face, steam coming out of his ears, veins popping all over his forehead and neck as he screamed for everyone to leave the Stark Tower Complex five minutes ago. His eyes turned a bright, fiery red when they landed on Peter. Tony was like a bull and Peter was the red flag being waved in his face. He lunged for Peter as all the drunk teenagers stumbled out the door, muttering to each other something about having rides.

"PETER BENJAMIN PARKER STARK! I CANNOT FUCKING BELIEVE YOU WOULD DO THIS!"

Peter did this on purpose for this exact reason, but now, as Tony was yelling at him, he felt like shit and couldn't take the only living father figure he had left yelling at him. He tried to suck it up the best he could, but as the tears welled in his eyes and his chest puffed up, Tony still caught this and all the anger from his face vanished. The red was gone immediately and he scooped up Peter in his arms, hugging him tightly.

During all of this, MJ was still sitting across from Peter, unsure of what to say, fiddling with her fingers as the grown man yelled at her classmate. She could see that the second Tony started hugging Peter that his tears went away and were replaced by complete and utter annoyance, so MJ did the only thing she could think of:

"Um, Mr. Stark, PETER WAS WEARING HIS BINDER WHILE DANCING!"

Tony pulled Peter away from his body. "EXCUSE ME, WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT THIS!"

Peter put his arms around Tony's arms, much like a father would to his son before breaking some bad news. "I'm fine. I'm not injured." This seemed like something that would get him in trouble, so he didn't even bother mentioning the fact that MJ was indeed lying.

"No," Tony shook his head, "your word isn't good enough. I'm going to have F.R.I.D.A.Y. do a physical scan of you to really make sure that everything is fine before I get your ass helping me clean up. MJ, you can go home and, please, don't forget to take Ned with you."

Peter's jaw went slack. "How did you know Ned was here?"

Tony looked at Peter like he had a third head. "What do you think I am? Stupid? I know that kid is always here, kiddo."

Peter's cheeks burned. How did he think he could get that past _Tony Freakin' Stark?_ To be fair, he didn't _really_ think that he could get away with it, it was just something that he was going to omit that from the conversation.

MJ followed what Tony had said and dragged Ned out of the Tower while he was still screaming into the mic about some unfair killing or other.

Once they had been out of the house, Tony wheeled around to Peter and kept his word about them talking. "Kid, you know how dangerous it is to engage in strenuous activity while wearing your binder. I know you're Spider-Man and that your suit keeps you looking pretty flat and all that with the _safe_ binder I put in your suit, but that doesn't make it suddenly okay. I just want you to be as safe as possible kiddo."

Peter groaned internally. He thanked MJ for trying to get him in trouble, but this was just getting him a lecture and probably would be getting a lecture from the rest of the Avengers at this rate, too. "I know, I know, I'm sorry," he said half-heartedly as F.R.I.D.A.Y. scanned his body for damage.

"Boss?"

"What is it, F.R.I.D.A.Y.?"

"Peter isn't wearing his binder, sir."

Peter smacked his forehead. He totally forgot about that. It was getting too tight for him when he had started setting up for the party, so he had taken it off and forgot to put it back on when everyone else had started showing up. His chest was flat enough that it didn't cause any issues in terms of people noticing.

"What?" Tony asked. "So, you mean to tell me that he lied about this?"

"Yes, sir, that is exactly what I'm saying."

Tony turned to Peter, his arms crossed. "You know, I'm starting to get really disappointed in you, Pete." For some reason, that hurt Peter more than when Tony had been yelling at him. Then, his heart hurt, but now, his mind hurt. He could think of every single thing he did wrong and knowing that he upset Tony Stark to the level of disappointment... well, that just wasn't something Peter was sure if he could live with or not.

"Look, kid, I don't know what's getting into you, but you need to cut it out before we have some serious consequences, okay?"

Peter nodded, not saying anything.

Tony pat him on the shoulder and Peter looked up. Tony wasn't looking at him, instead, he was looking at the destroyed living room with Solo cups everywhere and muddy footprints on the white couches and misplaced items thrown across the room and chips and pretzels kids had stepped on. "Since this is your first time doing anything wrong, I'm going to let you off with a very stern warning and make you clean this up with me. Though the next time you do something like this, I can't promise I'll be as nice about it. Got that?"

Biting his lip to keep from crying, Peter nodded glumly. He bent down and picked up three of the red Solo cups around the hallway to start with.

\---

"Peter, I really think you should go home now," Ned warned him. "It's been three days."

Peter waved Ned off, brushing his teeth more aggressively than he had the previous minute. "Peter, seriously. Your aunt is calling me. Hell, _Tony_ was--" Ned looked at his phone, " _is_ calling me. May must've given him my number. I'm sure they know you're with me." One more, Peter shrugged, ignoring what Ned said.

"Oh, great," Ned said, once again glancing at his phone, "now Tony is _texting_ me. He says you're not responding to him or May."

Peter shrugged, taking the toothbrush out of his mouth and taking a second to spit the toothpaste into the sink before speaking again. "My phone died." He walked back into the bathroom. Pausing, realizing what Ned would do, he walked back out quickly. "And _don't_ tell Mr. Stark."

Ned's fingers stopped moving. "Too late for that."

Peter nearly lunged at his friend, but he had enough composure for that. This time when he pulled himself out of the bathroom, it was because he had been prompted with the following: "I also told him that you're at my house."

"NED, WHAT THE FUCK!"

"What?!"

" _Why would you tell him?"_

"Oh, is that not what you wanted?"

"NO, of course, I don't! Now I can't just waltz in the door. He's going to come here and--" Peter cut himself off, a thought coming to him. He put the nail on his thumb in his mouth and started nibbling at it. "Okay, Ned, I'm leaving."

Ned stood up quickly. "What? Where are you going? You can't just disappear!" Peter ignored him as he zipped around the room shoving all of his clothes back into his bag, barely remembering to put his pajamas on before jumping out the window his legs were now dangling out of. "Peter!" Ned screamed, still trying to get his friend's attention.

Peter stopped, his hand holding the top of the windowpane, also the only thing keeping him from falling. He winked. "I'm not telling you because if I do, you'll just tell Aunt May and Mr. Stark and that's really not what I need right now."

With that, he jumped, but he was still slow enough to hear Ned say: "Oh, you are so fucked, my dude."

-

Peter came back home to the Stark Tower Complex at eight pm. He had spent most of the day at the library after he left Ned's house. His phone hadn't died while he was out, but halfway through the day while he was out, his phone had been running a little low on battery, so he plugged it in and texted MJ behind a book he was pretending to read.

She met him at the library with a bunch of snacks and they hung out until closing where he had just walked home with a fully charged battery and over four hundred accumulated texts from Ned, Aunt May, Tony, and Happy, with a few from the other Avengers as well, as well as two hundred calls from Aunt May, Tony, Happy, and F.R.I.D.A.Y..

When he walked in the door, the first thing he saw was Tony comforting May who was in tears. Then he saw the rest of the Avengers. They were too loud for any of them to hear the door opening or closing and F.R.I.D.A.Y. couldn't get any of their attentions, so Peter just strolled into the room completely unnoticed.

That was until he decided to say something. "Oh, Cap, hey, man. Thanks for the help on that history homework last week."

"No problem, Pete," he said. When he realized who he had spoken to, he did a double-take and just watched the smug little shit throw an apple in the air before catching it and taking a smug little shit bite out of the apple, instantly making Peter look like an asshole.

"PETER!" he shouted, pointing at him, heaving as he began breathing heavily. All conversation stopped and everyone immediately drew their gaze to where Steve was pointing.

May rushed over to him, throwing her arms around him and sobbing into his shoulder while Tony dismissed everyone else, telling them they could go home. Only Happy, Tony, May, and Peter remained after everyone else left.

Tony let out an angry sigh of relief while pinching the bridge of his nose. "Kid, what the _fuck_ were you thinking?"

"He wasn't, that's the problem," Happy chimed in.

May stood in silence, tears leaking down her face, her thumbnail in her mouth as she listened intently to the others.

"Actually," Peter started, playing with the hem of his shirt, "I didn't respond to anyone on purpose. I didn't want you guys to worry, that wasn't the goal, but I did want to get in trouble."

As soon as he said that, May let out a sob and Tony and Happy's hard expressions softened. Tony got close to May and put a kind hand on her shoulder. "May," he said softly, "I think you should go back to your apartment. Happy and I will deal with Peter ourselves." May walked out without even putting up an argument, probably because she was too upset to even think about dealing with Peter at that moment.

Once she left, Tony walked back up to Peter. "Pete, what do you mean by 'the goal was to get in trouble'?"

Peter shrugged lazily. "It means exactly what you think it does." He went to walk out of the room, but Tony put his hand up to stop Peter from going anywhere.

"No, no, no. We are talking about this further. That's a really heavy thing to say, kid. You aren't getting away scot-free on this without telling me why."

Peter sat down, burying his face in his hands. "I just -- I just feel like... like everyone would be better off if I were punished and couldn't go outside as Spider-Man for a couple of weeks or months or something. Plus, maybe Flash would stop making comments to me about being such a good kid and he'd stop bullying me."

Happy was the one pinching the bridge of his nose now. "Hold on, you're getting _bullied_ by this kid? He totally looked up to you, though."

"No," Peter corrected. "He looks up to Spider-Man. He bullies Peter Parker."

"Wait, you're getting bullied by this asswipe?" Tony interjected madder than Peter had ever seen him before.

"Uh, yeah."

Tony whipped out his phone and started scrolling. "What's this dick's name?"

"Nothing worth doing anything over," Peter said.

"Well, if it's enough to make you act totally out of character and not respond to anyone for three days straight, it is a big enough deal to do something about," Tony argued. Peter had to admit, Tony had him there.

There was an urge Peter was feeling. He didn't know what possessed him to do it, but he did. He ran over to Tony and gave him a huge hug (Tony wasn't that far away from him, though, so Peter nearly knocked him over). Clearly, unsure of what to do, Tony wrapped his arms around the kid uncomfortably and stiffly. As soon as his arms were around Peter, Peter broke down crying into Tony's chest. "Pete, I wish you would have just come and talked to Happy or your Aunt May or me about this. We could have worked something out."

"N-no," Peter said. "I didn't... I didn't want..." Peter couldn't form a coherent thought.

Tony hugged Peter tighter, suddenly getting a feel for hugging the young boy. "Shh," he said soothingly, "it's okay, you don't have to say anything. I'd rather you calm down first."

Peter's arms got tighter around Tony's torso, even though neither of them thought that was possible, but at the same time, neither of them cared.

It was Peter's safety and happiness that came first always. Tony let Peter hug him for as long as he needed, not wanting to rip any bit of care away from Peter. He was glad that Peter was finally opening up to him, whether it had to be by force or not.

When Peter finally let go of Tony, Peter wiped his nose on the back of his sleeve and Tony rested his hand on Peter's shoulder to get his attention. "Hey, I think there's a tub of ice cream in the freezer with your name on it and a seat in the theater room with your name on it just waiting to be used. In the meantime, Happy, May, and I can help you with Flash and help you feel like you've gotten what you deserve without hurting yourself. Just, no more dodging our calls and camping out at Ned's for three days, please."

Peter agreed with Tony and followed Happy and Tony out of the room they were in. He wasn't sure what it was for, but Peter knew that Tony had always made him feel better in that room, so the room held special meaning to him that he would cherish forever.


End file.
